Gabisom chooses Martin Audio MLA for Rock in Rio main stage

The seven-day event - held across two long weekends - featured headliners including Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Who, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Maroon 5 and Justin Timberlake.

Martin Audio’s MLA first appeared at a Rock in Rio show during the festival's US event, Rock in Rio USA, in Las Vegas in May 2015 on the Mercedez-Benz Evolution stage.

The successful event in Las Vegas was followed later that year with the deployment of MLA at the 30th birthday of Rock in Rio in Brazil, on the second stage - the Sunset Stage.

Gabisom chief engineer Peter Racy said: “For me, personally, it was a pleasure to hear the pristine sound quality of MLA, and in my opinion it was MLA that made the difference. In fact I heard nothing but rave reviews from users of the MLA in Rio.”

It was then a year later in Rock in Rio in Lisbon, that MLA was taken onto the main World Stage, becoming the largest deployment of MLA systems on a single stage, eclipsing both Glastonbury and Hyde Park main stages.

The system is designed to be used with a split mix, where two pairs of stereo mixes are output from the mixing desk. The 'Band' stereo mix contained most of the band elements (drums, bass guitars, and keys). The 'Vocal' stereo mix contains vocals and any other elements that are prominent in the overall mix.

Racy added: “I have to say MLA delivered a really exciting muscular sound with absolute clarity for the daily crowds that were in excess of 100,000. There’s nothing that will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck as much as seeing an audience rocking as far as the eye can see.”